1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to controlling the ring tone of a mobile device. More specifically, the present invention relates to remotely controlling the ring tone of a mobile device via a USSD gateway server.
2. Background of the Invention
Wireless communications devices, such as cellular telephones, have become tremendously popular. It is estimated that there were 3.3 billion cellular phone subscriptions at the end of 2007. Close to 80% of the world now enjoys cellular coverage, a figure only increasing as new networks appear. Along with the abundance of cellular telephones comes the demand for new and improved services. It is no longer enough to just place and receive calls, users want it all.
Since introduction of ring tone service to wireless users, wireless operators have seen a rapid increase in usage of this service. The volume of ring tone downloads has been rising at an incredible pace in recent years. Data service revenue generated from ring tone downloading contributes a big part of the average revenue per user (ARPU) with respect to data among all wireless operators who offer such a service. The ring tone has been seen as a great way for personalization and individual representation.
Nevertheless, current ring tone service is only offered as a “server to mobile” service. A user downloads the service on his/her device and uses it on his/her own device. In certain instances a ring tone can be shared with another user, such as by copying it to another mobile device, but there are few mobile devices that allow this in a user-friendly manner. Carriers hesitate to make this process user-friendly for fear of facilitating copyright infringement and other digital rights management issues.
At the same time, users are still using the same communication process they have been using since the invention of the telephone. A call is placed, the caller waits through rings for the callee to answer, then they can talk. Nowadays, if the callee does not answer, the caller has an opportunity to record a voice message. However, this seems like a rather long process for a device with so many technological advances.
There is a service that connects mobile devices through a wireless network for digital communication. It is a USSD gateway server. USSD stands for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data. USSD is a means of transmitting information or instructions over a GSM/UMTS network. USSD has some similarities with short message services (SMS) since both use the GSM/UMTS network's signaling path. Unlike SMS, USSD is not a store and forward service and is session-oriented. When a user accesses a USSD service, a session is established and the radio connection stays open until the user, application, or time-out releases it. This has more in common with Circuit Switched Data than SMS. USSD text messages can be up to 182 characters in length.
What is needed in the art is a way to give callers the ability to control the ring tone on the callee's mobile device. The system should make use of more recent technologies in order to make the process fast and simple. The system also needs to handle copyright infringement and other digital rights issues as well.